Operations

Anticipating what may be a modest recovery, many business leaders are looking to hold the line on costs while: 1) improving performance effectiveness; 2) maintaining a technological edge; 3) fostering innovation; and 4) developing comprehensive business continuity plans. Additionally, you can explore all of PwC's publications covering current business issues and industry trends.

When carrying out supply chain network modelling projects in emerging markets, there are a number of challenges to be considered and managed. This paper describes how a sample of these can be overcome.

Ever wonder why some companies consistently deliver while others disappoint? Faced with the same market, stocked with similar talent, one organization flourishes, while the other flounders. By understanding what makes your organization tick and where there might be breakdowns to address, you and your employees can truly deliver on your strategic intent.

After recent years of focus on reducing product and supply chain costs, high performing product manufacturing companies are now taking a structured look at service supply chain operations. Traditionally, the service supply chain for these original equipment manufacturers has been perceived by company officers as hard to manage: a “cost of doing business” and a “second tier driver of business value”. Often, these operations have been an afterthought for creating competitive advantage since spending often exceeds reserves, inventory write-offs are common and customer experience ratings of post-sale services are traditionally weak.But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Sustainability has been on the executive agenda for years and it’s now one of the fastest-growing supply chain management trends. More than two-thirds of 500 supply chain executives say it will play an important role in how they manage their supply chains through 2015. When PwC and APICS Foundation decided to explore what the people responsible for executing on these strategies would say about the topic, an interesting picture emerged. Thirty-nine percent of APICS members, the leading association for supply chain and operations, say company leadership is not providing the mandate, incentives, and resources to turn supply chain sustainability into action. Read this report to find out more.

In 2008 and 2011, our tri-annual M&A Integration survey reports underscored the need for early planning and an accelerated transition as critical factors for successful integration. This 2014 survey report confirms these factors remain in today’s deals, and offers additional insights – showing that while early planning and rapid transition remain important, the commitment to integration completion over the long-term can be the deciding factor for deal success.

Businesses depend on service providers to handle confidential data, run essential business processes, and manage critical technology. This can leave businesses vulnerable to service provider breakdowns. The result can be the providers’ clients violating regulations and even losing customer trust. Yet many businesses may know less than they realize about their service providers’ controls. This 10Minutes discusses how SOC 2 and SOC 3 reports can give businesses the picture they need to have solid confidence in their service providers.

It’s an opportunity hidden in plain sight. In 10Minutes on transforming the tax function, we discuss how the tax function is often overlooked as an area for improvement, unlike more obvious choices such as supply chain or business services. However, shining a light on the tax group can reveal untapped opportunities where changes in technology, process, people, and data can lead to benefits for the broader business.

New research shows that high-performing supply chains can achieve sales and revenue growth while managing costs. That sounds like a tall order, but there are things you can do now to manage your supply chain as a strategic asset to boost performance and profitability. This 10Minutes highlights how the supply chain can move your business strategy forward and set you apart from the competition.

After three years of outreach and deliberation, the IASB and FASB recently issued a revised proposal to overhaul the rules on accounting for leases, a move that could significantly boost US companies' reported debt.

10Minutes on conflict minerals provides insight into the strategic benefits and risks companies will want to focus on as they comply with the SEC's conflict minerals rule. The rule is effective for 2013 calendar year operations, so regardless of whether companies view conflict minerals as a supply chain opportunity, risk to their brand or another regulatory to-do, they should act now to prepare.

Consumer-packaged goods (CPG) companies, retailers, and their business partners often tout the ways they put customers at the center of their strategies. But while many companies do a good job of understanding their customers, perhaps not as many create demand by coordinating across marketing, sales, and innovation—functions and activities that now encompass the demand chain. This 10Minutes explores ways companies can capitalize on knowing their customer with demand functions pulling in the same direction.

This issue of the Technology Forecast examines the impact of Internet of Things trends on businesses and the IT organization. It analyzes how businesses now have the ability to continue the relationship with customers after the sales transaction by helping them achieve the goals for which they buy the products.

What does a customer-centered organization look like? What investments are needed to take you there, and what might that journey look like? This 10Minutes discusses these questions and how companies who focus on creating a customer-centered organization may reap real dividends.

Volatility has become a fact of life in today’s business landscape. Yet, after years of global expansion, many companies’ supply chains are brittle, unable to respond to frequent fluctuations in demand and supply. This 10Minutes explores strategies companies can deploy to make their supply chains more agile and adaptable.

In 2013, company leaders are looking for value creation from their operations. To achieve this goal, organizations are moving beyond shared services and outsourcing to a Global Business Services (GBS) model. GBS helps provide those intangibles by focusing on customer needs and business strategy first and foremost.

The best disaster survival manual may be obsolete if it doesn’t anticipate major disruptions to the supply chain or at outsourced operations. As a result, business continuity management programs are being designed to continually assess— as well as counter—risks stemming from the interdependencies integral to running a business.

PwC's latest thinking about how companies can leverage technology already embedded in the broader finance organization to transform a high-pressure environment into an integrated ecosystem that drives improvements in productivity, quality and risk.